


Major reorientation

by Vinushuka



Series: Apocalyptica on the move [10]
Category: Apocalyptica (Band)
Genre: F/F, F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-27
Updated: 2020-09-27
Packaged: 2021-03-07 20:13:37
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,495
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26683489
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vinushuka/pseuds/Vinushuka
Summary: Anna and Patrik start a Japanese intensive course at the Institute on Monday 3rd of August. Their story gets an unforeseen turn when Anna starts to doubt that Patrik is actually a seer like her without being aware of it. In that case, Patriks dream about him, Anna and a baby might be a real game changer. Yusuke calls Anna  on Tuesday to let her know that he's going to meet Miyu's family on next Thursday, which will cause a delay in his return to Finland. Anna breaks him the shocking news about Johanna, Perttu and Eicca, because the marriage between Perttu and Eicca affects also their future plans.During Eicca's birthday party Anna bumps into Mikael, who actually is Sebastian wanting to apologize for his sudden departure some days ago. They agree to have a sauna evening together next Saturday while Apocalyptica is performing in Sweden. Anna arranges a distraction for Kirsi to cheer up Perttu during which the women end up having some fun together in Kirsi's sauna.
Relationships: Eicca Toppinen/Kirsi Ylijoki, Perttu Kivilaakso/Eicca Toppinen
Series: Apocalyptica on the move [10]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1408180
Kudos: 1





	1. Back to Japanese studies with Patrik

A message from Patrik clinked into my cellphone on 3rd of August about an hour before the start of our Japanese intensive course at the Institute.

“Hi Anna. I’m coming to pick you up! Will be improperly dressed.”

It took a while for me to figure out what he meant with his last remark but then I happened to glance at the thermometer attached to my kitchen window frame. The red column had climbed up to 30 °C so maybe Patrik would be wearing something casual instead of the regular shirt and trousers. 

“Looking forward to that :D”, I wrote feeling the excitement grow.

This was the day I had waited fervently already for weeks. We had studied Japanese together during the previous spring, but Patrik had to skip the last three lessons because of his surgery in April. After that there was this issue with Sebastian due to which Patrik lost his memory and my world crumbled. Now he had regained his memories, but circumstances had changed during his amnesia and we were almost back in square one in our relationship.

Patrik parked his car by the roadside about fifteen minutes later but he didn’t step out of the car as usual. I concluded that he must be embarrassed about his outfit and braced myself against a surprise.

“Wow, a t-shirt and shorts!” I exclaimed when I had sat down on co-driver’s seat and buckled myself.

“Well yes, it’s too hot for me and I ran out of clean shirts”, he explained looking bothered.

I couldn’t understand his obsession with trousers and shirts, but who was I to judge his dressing habits! I was used to wearing jeans and t-shirts on most occasions and had very few skirts or dresses in my wardrobe.

“Okay, are you ready now for some serious studying? I hope you had time to read the textbook we selected for you”, I said while I pushed my bag beside my feet under the dashboard.

“I did browse it through and made some of the exercises. It was much more difficult than I expected due to the large amount of kanji used. I think I need to study them separately. I bought the kanji book you recommended last spring, but I never got to study it properly”, Patrik admitted.

“I’m finishing my studies of the 2200 kanji in Heisig this week in it so I could help you to get started”, I proposed feeling my hopes rise high. “It took me approximately eight months to go through the whole book and write the stories.”

“I will have to consider… You know I have problems with controlling my schedules. I probably can’t study as regularly as you can right now. But thanks for the offer. I appreciate it”, Patrik said and flashed a beautiful smile at me. After that he suddenly reached out his hand, stroke my arm a bit hesitantly and then turned quickly to start the car. 

Although I had been prepared for a surprise, I couldn’t anticipate the sensations his hairy legs woke up in my system. I had to do my utmost not to stroke his bare thigh withing the reach of my hand. I was still unsure about how he felt about my touch although our movie night a week ago had told another story. I was therefore relieved when we finally arrived at the Institute and I could concentrate on something other than my longing to touch him.

As the parking area near the Institute was fully occupied, we had to drive quite far to find a vacant parking place. I didn’t mind the long walk back because that meant I could have him all to myself for a longer time. When we finally arrived at the Institute, we were running late and had to hurry directly to our classroom at the 3rd floor.

Our teacher asked us to introduce ourselves in Japanese but right after that she made us dive headlong into the confines of our textbook, which was considerably easier than the one we had selected for Patrik. I must admit I had difficulties in concentrating on what was taught because my eyes wanted to stray towards the lightly dressed man sitting beside me. Every time his arm accidentally brushed mine it sent a shiver of pleasure throughout my body making me want more.

I must have missed a question because Patrik poked me with his knee and pointed at a picture in the textbook. “It’s this one”, he whispered.

“Sorry, but I didn’t hear the question”, I said to the teacher blushing heavily and trying to focus my concentration on the lesson.

“You’re very absentminded today”, Patrik grinned after I had managed to produce a correct answer to teacher’s question.

“It’s all your fault… Why did you have to dress up like that?” I muttered and finally gave up to my urge to stroke his thigh.

Patrik pinned my hand under his own. “Don’t wake up a sleeping bear”, he whispered in my ear.

The rest of our three-hours lesson passed by without major mishaps. We had a fun competition, where we were trying to figure out as many words starting with a certain letter as possible. We also watched couple of short videos about shinkansen trains and making of wagashi sweets.

When we were descending the stairs to the institute lobby after the lesson, I realized that I was both mentally and physically exhausted. Reading, listening and speaking Japanese for three hours for the first time in months had taken its toll on both of us.

“Jeez, I’m really done”, I complained as I rubbed my stiff neck.

“You don’t say. I felt so rusty that I could almost hear my brain squeak every time I tried to remember a word”, Patrik accompanied me. “I can drive you home if you like”, he suddenly proposed.

“Thanks, that would be nice”, I replied quickly before he would change his mind.

I waited for Patrik at the lobby while he used the toilet. I tried feverishly to figure out how I could make him stay at my place at least for a while. Nina was babysitting Lumi during our Japanese lesson, but she would leave after my return. That would offer us a chance to catch up with things we had missed during our long separation.

When we were driving along the motorway to Espoo, I suddenly remembered that I was supposed to ask Patrik about his plans concerning Naoki. He hadn’t told me much about their relationship, so most of my information concerning Naoki came through Yusuke.

“Have you talked with Naoki about your future after his assignment in Finland ends in March next year?”

“I think he wants to stay longer than one year here but nothing has been decided yet. What about you and Yusuke?” Patrik returned my question.

“We have planned to arrange a wedding in Japan next spring and stay at least some time there. The finding of Yusuke’s daughter Miyu may change the situation. We will know more next weekend once Yusuke has returned from his trip to Japan.”

“It will be painful if you’re far away from me”, Patrik confessed after a long silence.

My heart thudded when I realized what he was saying. His words could just as well have been mine.

“Err… I have the same problem… It feels like a big chunk of me is missing when you’re not around. The pain starts even if you travel to Sweden or Estonia. I really don’t understand what is causing that.”

Immediately after saying these words I realized that Sebastian’s presence may have left some permanent changes in Patrik’s system. Sebastian had this ‘thing’ for me, love or whatever weird emotion it was. Perhaps it lingered in Patrik even if Sebastian wasn’t with him anymore. Of course, I couldn’t tell anything about this to Patrik so instead I stated the obvious.

“It sounds like these feelings will make travelling more challenging for us, but I think we can manage. Staying in touch by messages or phone helped me a lot when you were on your orientation period in Japan. Nothing of course compares to being together in person, but it makes the distance tolerable. Anyway, I’m not planning to stay in Japan permanently.”

“Good to hear that. I was afraid I would lose you forever.”

Patrik’s words filled my eyes with tears. He had no idea how desperate I had been when I thought he was forever lost for me after Sebastian’s departure last spring. I tried to hide my face from him, but he was too perceptive.

“What is it? Did I say something inappropriate?” Patrik asked sounding worried.

“No, not at all. I just remembered my despair when you lost your memories about us… But let’s concentrate on this summer and autumn first. As Lumi is so young, I won’t be travelling very much this year. What about you and Naoki, do you have any travel plans for this autumn?”

“I have no holiday plans that would include travelling, but I will have quite a few business trips to our neighboring countries this autumn. Naoki has his cousin’s wedding in France in September”, Patrik told me and shot a quick glance at me. “Actually, we are moving together into a new apartment slightly before that.”

“Oh, I see”, I said trying hard not to sound disappointed. After their move there would be no privacy for us except at my place occasionally.

“You don’t sound very pleased about that”, Patrik remarked after a short consideration.

“I know I should be happy for you, but I’m just a selfish old woman trying to keep you all to myself”, I mumbled mostly to myself. “I know that you won’t be happy with someone like me, but I keep forgetting it when I’m with you.”

“You shouldn’t consider Naoki as your competitor. I thought he was all I needed, but it was a false assumption. That’s why I’m here…”

We had to interrupt our extremely interesting discussion because we had arrived at my house. Patrik parked the car and we sat in silence for a while letting the facts sink into our consciousness. We were in some strange way connected with each other. Being close to each other brought us both pleasure incomparable to anything else.

“Have you ever seen things in your dreams that turn out to be true later on or strange visions of someone you know?” I finally broke the silence.

“I’m not sure… I once saw you and me with a baby… Since then I’ve been obsessed with the thought. Why do you ask?”

“I think we might have something in common that puts us on the same wavelength so to say. My dreams tend to come true, not all but some of them”, I replied carefully not to scare Patrik.

“Wow, this is getting interesting! You can see the future!”, Patrik enthused. “Wait a minute. What is the last dream you saw about you and me?”

“It was something very ordinary. I was visiting your new apartment while Naoki was travelling to France. You had three cats and you cooked us dinner.”

“So, you saw the new flat and Naoki’s trip to France, but I don’t have three cats!” Patrik pointed out.

“Well, you never know what will happen. The cats were cute, by the way.”

“My brother has three cats…”, Patrik mumbled rubbing his chin.

“Talking about cats, would you like to come and say hello to Muru, my kitten? Besides, I will have to release Nina from her babysitting duties.”

“Gladly, but I would be thankful for some coffee and sandwiches”, Patrik hinted.

“A sandwich wouldn’t hurt me either”, I agreed knowing that he had missed his usual snack at the Institute, and I doubted if he had had any lunch either. When I pushed the door open to step out of the car, I felt extremely satisfied. It looked like I was getting what I had hoped for.


	2. The mother of all surprises

I woke up on Tuesday morning feeling confused but happy. The conversation I had previous night with Patrik had forced me to rethink my future. If Patrik was a seer like me, we would probably have a life-long mental connection that would be hard or impossible to severe. He was my soulmate whether I wanted it or not. Patrik seemed to be convinced that the baby he had seen in his dream was ours, but how could that be possible? My fertile time was running out and even Sebastian was not able to prevent my recent miscarriage… Or, perhaps my somewhat erratic guardian angel had other plans he didn’t bother to share with me.

These thoughts made me feel irritated, so I jumped out of the bed and hurried to prepare myself a light breakfast. Perttu would arrive at ten o’clock, so I had better set aside these speculations and be ready to meet the beloved father of my child.

The meeting with Perttu wasn’t what I had expected, it was far beyond anything I had hoped for. Perttu wasn’t going to marry Johanna, his current fiancé but Eicca, his long-term bandmate and lover. My sacrifice hadn’t been in vain after all. Perttu was going to get the best companion he could hope for and I, as Lumi’s mother, would be a natural part of their life. It was almost too good to be true.

I had promised to talk about our second try with Yusuke, but under current circumstances it didn’t feel like a good idea anymore. Lumi would gain two big brothers from Eicca’s side and Miyu would be as good as a big sister to her, so she would have enough family around her. It would be better to use the time I had to carry a child to Yusuke or Patrik, who wanted a family with his companion. Despite Patrik’s vision, I wasn’t considering of having a life with him. I had chosen Yusuke as my husband and would stick to my decision.

Just when my thoughts were revolving around Yusuke, my phone buzzed and to my astonishment the call was from him.

“Can you read minds? I was just thinking of you”, I purred to my lovely samurai warrior.

“Maybe I can… I suddenly got this urge to talk to you”, Yusuke replied in a soft voice that made my body tickle in certain places.

It was already evening in Japan, so Yusuke probably had finished the day’s meetings and negotiations with the officials.

“How has your day been? Any news worth mentioning?” I asked already used to the slow and careful progress of things in Japan.

“Actually, the day has been very productive. I will finally get to meet Miyu’s family on Thursday. I will most likely have to postpone my return to Finland with two days. I expect to be back in the afternoon of Tuesday 11th of August. I hope that’s okay for you.”

“I miss you terribly much, but I understand that these things take time. Just do what you must do… For your information, I will attend Eicca’s birthday party tomorrow at Sipoo. That will be interesting and probably entertaining too.”

“How was your Japanese lesson yesterday?”

“It was fun, but I was completely exhausted afterwards. The pause in my studies was too long. Patrik complained about the same thing. By the way, he told me that he is going to move into a new apartment together with Naoki. “

“I guess that was inevitable. Naoki is head over heels in love with him”, Yusuke commented with tenderness in his voice.

For a second, I considered keeping Eicca’s and Perttu’s plans only to myself but then I realized I couldn’t to keep such a big secret and broke the news to him.

“Perttu arranged me a mother of all surprises when he came to see me this morning. You had better sit down before I say anything more.”

“I’m already sitting so shoot”, Yusuke replied smiling. 

“Johanna broke their engagement and Perttu will marry Eicca instead.”

“Err… what?” Yusuke cried out.

“Eicca will divorce Kirsi and marry Perttu in 2017”, I explained to make the news more comprehensible.

“I hope you’re not kidding me”, Yusuke said after a long pause.

“Rest assured I’m not a person who would fool around with you. I’m just telling you what Perttu told me.”

“How did you take the news? I know Johanna’s and Perttu’s relationship has been hard for you to bear.”

“It has been exactly that, but I’ve never had problems with accepting Eicca’s and Perttu’s relationship. They are made for each other. I was exalted when I heard the news and I still am.”

“If you’re happy, I’m happy. Please send my best wishes to them at the birthday party”, Yusuke concluded.

“I will and please, call me on Thursday after the meeting.”


	3. Party businesses

As agreed, I and Perttu travelled independently to Eicca’s birthday party at Sipoo. When I arrived at the party grounds, Kirsi and Eicca were standing together in front of their house receiving their guests. I joined the long line to congratulate Eicca and to convey Yusuke’s congratulations from Japan. Right after receiving my welcoming drink I bumped into Mikael, Mikko’s boyfriend or, in fact, he bumped into me making me spill half of my drink onto my hand.

“Oh, I’m sorry, Anna. Can I get you a new drink?” Mikael asked offering me a tissue to wipe my hand dry.

“That’s alright, I’m with a car…” I said happy that I got to see him again.

Mikael looked absolutely stunning in his all-black outfit, an almost see-through black shirt and black leather pants. Mikael was wearing again his golden pendant, the one he had dropped into my study during Lumi’s baptizing ceremony. No-one in their right mind would believe that the guy talking to me was a priest.

“You look very Crowleyish tonight”, I said admiring his looks that reminded me of demons rather than angels. Mikael’s black curls seemed to be longer every time I saw him, so I assumed he was letting his hair grow. Maybe long hair enhanced his credibility as a drummer of their band.

“You look lovely too”, Mikael returned the compliment. “I’m sorry that I had to leave so suddenly last Friday. Urgent matters needed my attention”, he said making me realize that I wasn’t talking to Mikael the priest but Sebastian the angel.

“I think you owe me a better explanation than that. I was really hurt and disappointed at you”, I breathed trying to restrain my anger.

“To be honest, I wasn’t sure if I could control myself with you. I could have killed you in the heat of our lovemaking”, Sebastian whispered into my ear after stepping closer. When he folded his fingers around my arm, I could feel the heat flowing from his hand straight into my private parts.

“Please don’t make me want you again if you’re planning to back off at the critical moment”, I said bluntly and took a step back to make him release his grip.

At that moment I noticed that also Perttu had arrived at the party. Eicca gave him a welcoming hug and whispered something into his ear. Right after Perttu had replied, Kirsi returned from her errands and hurried to give him a hug after which they exchanged a few words. I guessed they talked about Johanna. I waved my hand to get Perttu’s attention and then beckoned him to come over.

“I can come and see you on Saturday, if you like”, Sebastian proposed forcing me to shift my attention from Perttu back to him.

“That would be nice. You’re welcome to have a sauna evening with me. Perttu and Mikko will be travelling to Sweden so we won’t be disturbed.”

When Perttu joined our company Sebastian quickly changed his role back to Mikael and offered his priestly services to Perttu if he happened to need them. We two had finished our business just before Perttu arrived, so Mikael said his goodbyes quite soon and left to find Mikko. I couldn’t help smiling when Perttu wondered how Mikael could know about his service needs in advance. I assured him that I hadn’t told him anything so maybe he was relying on his high-level information sources. Of course, I couldn’t tell Perttu that Mikael new quite a few things in the presence of Sebastian.

After the reception and welcoming drinks, the party program continued with speeches and music performances. I enjoyed this part of the program together with Perttu. I couldn’t help noticing how he reacted when he saw Kirsi kissing Eicca. He had never questioned Kirsi’s right to show her affection in public but now it clearly caused him pain. One night had changed the situation profoundly. For him this was the start of suffering. Twenty months would be a long time to wait and hide his true feelings. 

I felt sorry for Perttu but there was nothing I could do to cheer him up. Only Eicca could do that but he was stuck with Kirsi… unless I did something to distract her. Without further consideration I offered to lure Kirsi away from her husband so that Perttu could spend some quality time with Eicca. Perttu was eager to accept my offer so we parted, and I headed out to look for Kirsi. 

It was easy to find Kirsi among all the quests because her copper-red hair was competing in radiance with the evening sun. Her green caftan complimented the color of her hair perfectly. When her sapphire blue eyes met mine, I couldn’t help comparing my boyish looks to her feminine perfection. Who was I to seduce her?

“Hi Anna! How’s your evening going?” Kirsi asked beaming at me.

“Very nice so far. I had a chat with Mikael and watched the program with Perttu.”

“I expected Perttu would be totally devastated by Johanna’s decision to break up their engagement, but he seemed to take it very calmly. I just wonder…”

“I think Perttu was relieved more than anything. He had driven himself into a dead end and couldn’t see a way out. Johanna did.” I commented guessing what she would ask next.

“Now that Perttu is a free man, are we going to hear your wedding bells toll any time soon?”

“You’re forgetting one thing; I’m engaged to be married with Yusuke and intending to stay that way if it depends on me.”

“What if Yusuke backs off for some reason?” Kirsi speculated.

“I could always try to seduce you away from Eicca”, I joked hoping to put an end to her what ifs.

“Wow, that sounds interesting! Can we talk more about it somewhere in private?” Kirsi gushed, grabbed my hand and started to drag me to some unknown destination.

“Err… Okay then… Where is this private place?” I asked feeling panic creeping in. What the hell was I doing?

“It’s not far. Our sauna has a nice veranda for talking about things.”

I thought it was pointless to resist Kirsi’s discussion initiative, so I let her lead me to their sauna building nearby. I knew the place since Kirsi had invited me to a sauna evening couple of times before. We sat down on the veranda side by side and enjoyed the warm and beautiful summer evening.

“It’s a pity that the sauna door is locked. I asked Eicca to close it for safety reasons and he probably has the key still”, Kirsi muttered and stroke my arm with her gentle fingers. Her touch made me want to kiss her and push my fingers among her red curls.

“If you don’t stop doing that, I will have to kiss you”, I threatened but only managed to make things worse.

“Please do. There’s no one here to see”, she encouraged me and laid her and on my thigh.

There was no way I could resist her wish. I took her lovely face into my hands and pressed my lips onto hers. Something in my brain snapped when I felt her soft lips on mine, and I couldn’t make myself stop. I devoured her lips, kissed her face and caressed her hair wanting to make love with her there and then.

The sound of a closing door and faint male voices from sauna made me come back to my senses. When the door opened after a while Kirsi and I acted like nothing had happened. I should have guessed that Perttu and Eicca would use the opportunity and escape to sauna just like we had.

The boys looked happy and relaxed and not at all surprised to see us there. Judging by the familiar flush on Perttu’s cheeks he had got what he needed from Eicca. When Eicca offered the keys to us, we took them without questioning. The kisses had turned us both on and we needed a place where we could safely satisfy our urgent needs.

“Did you have a good time with Kirsi?”, Perttu grinned when we met about an hour later in front of the stage where a group of people was waiting for Cherry and the Vipers gig to begin.

“Yes, very much so”, I replied remembering Kirsi’s tongue flipping me over the edge after I had done the same for her.

“Oh shit! I just remembered that the starting meeting of the renovation project was scheduled one week earlier. It takes place tomorrow morning at ten o’clock at Kisko. Do you think you can make it?”

“Yes, I think so, but I will have to take Lumi with me because Nina has other commitments tomorrow.”

“That’s alright. It’s good that Lumi gets used to the place as early as possible. After all it’s her second home.”

“Should I prepare somehow for the meeting?”

“No, just take a camera and open mind with you. After seeing the house it’s easier to have ideas.”

“This project will be extremely interesting for all of us!” I said and squeezed Perttu’s hand. Planning a home together with Perttu and Eicca was a once in a lifetime opportunity I had never even dreamed about.

We had to stop our conversation when Cherry and the Vipers entered the stage. It was weird to see Eicca behind rums and Kirsi singing although I knew what to expect. For a freelance actor like Kirsi singing skills were almost a mandatory requirement. I had no idea where or when Eicca had learned to play drums, but he did his job impeccably.

We both stayed to watch the Blanco, an interesting new addition to Finnish rock scene. The trio’s energetic sound reminded me of young Muse and the singer/guitarist had a great stage presence not to mention his good looks. After their show we said good night to our hosts and headed home for a good night’s sleep. We both had to be sharp next morning in the planning meeting.


End file.
